Letter from Home (Copland) explained

Letter from Home is a 1944 orchestral composition by Aaron Copland. The piece was commissioned as a patriotic work by Paul Whiteman for his Radio Hall of Fame Orchestra, and suggests the emotions of a soldier reading a letter from home.^[1] The music has been described as Copland's "most sentimental" and reflects his own homesickness in Mexico.^[2]

It is scored for flute, oboe, four saxophones, French horn, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, guitar, piano, harp, percussion, and strings.^[3] The 1964 orchestral version is scored for two flutes, two oboes (oboe II is optional), two clarinets, optional bass clarinet, two bassoons (bassoon II is optional), two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, percussion (bells, suspended cymbal, triangle, bass drum), optional harp, optional piano, and strings.

Notes and References

1. William H. Young, Nancy K. Young World War II and the Postwar Years in America 0313356521 - 2010 -"Another patriotic piece, Letter from Home, written by Copland in 1944, suggests the emotions that might be experienced by a soldier receiving and reading a letter from home.."
2. Music of the World War II Era - Page 181 0313338914 William H. Young, Nancy K. Young - 2008 "A short number, Letter from Home (1944), written two years after Lincoln Portrait and Fanfare for the Common Man, ..."
3. Howard Pollack Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man 1999 - Page 387 "Copland scored Letter from Home for flute, oboe, four saxophones, French horn, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, guitar, piano, harp, percussion, and strings. Whiteman premiered this original version (since lost) on 7 October 1944"